Yes, I know the myth. I think she was gypped, myself and isn’t my first thought in any case. Pandora is the long suffering “almost” mother in law I have. She is an awesome lady and absolutely deserves to be honored in some way.
Now, I have Pandora in the middle of our top combo: Cecily Pandora Jane but decided to pair it with *my* Mother’s pair of names, Frances & Jane. Pandora’s up front & in the middle here, so would you be so kind & humor me ? I’d love to know how crazy I am, thinking of Pandora up front!

I’m still loving Cecily to honor Babci Cecilia/Cecylia. I’ve had a lovely combo for awhile now too: Cecily Pandora Jane. As you might recall, Pandora’s his Mom’s real first name and Jane was my Mom’s middle.
But I’ve been rethinking a bit.

Cecily Violet Petronel is a combo I’m revisiting. I love Cecily Violet together and Petronel not only honors great uncle Pyotr, I love Petronel’s fairytale feel.

I thought I’d talk a bit about those names that you always see in my middle spots and why they’re there. It seems as if the same ones show up again & again and that can be tedious to see over & over again. At least, that was the thinking at the beginning of this post, I have no idea where this is going yet. Now, onto those names!

The guys:
Edward/Edgar – I have two Uncles named Ed-, One married into the family (Edgar), one was born into the family (Edward). I liked Edgar better than Edward, as far as Uncles go but like both names pretty much equally.

William/Willem – William is the family name, I have had several cousins with this name. Willem is my “MIL’s” Pop’s name, I found out recently. Never thought to ask her parents names before this past summer. Duh. 😀

Arthur – One of my favorite Great Uncles on Pop’s side. The sweetest guy on earth (next to my other half, that is).

Barnaby – He’s in the middle because we both like him very much. We allow ourselves one name that doesn’t honor. I’ve got him in a combo up front too. Which seems apt since we both do like him enough to do so.

Balthazar – Great Grandpa on Mom’s side. Father of my Babci and her 12 brothers (and one sister who died at 2). Mighty awesome dude with some really great stories. I like it enough to use up front but he’s wary of Getty. So in the middle he goes.

Henry – His Grandpop. I like Henry but not enough to use him up front. So in the middle he goes, again.

John/James – One of the other half’s middle names. James is the other. He’s not fond of his name but like James & John. That’s why they’re on this list.

Valentin – My personal favorite of The maternal Great Uncles. Balthazar’s boys. And he backhandedly seems to honor my Pop too, Valentine’s Day was his birthday and I’ve been thinking it’s a grand way to honor my Pop who hated his given name.

The gals:

Lucy – This is what my Mom wanted to name me, or Alice. She called me Lucy about 80% of the time anyway. I like the way I feel when I say Lucy. As Lucy though, I think she’s too short to stand well next to big sister Josephine.

Lily/Lilias – Lilian was Grandma. She went by Lily to one & all and called me Lily too. Lilias is just the Scots version that goes better with my surname. I dislike the intense popularity of lil- so they go in the middle, where I can enjoy them but not share them often.

Alice – She goes into the same category as Lucy. Even though she didn’t call me Alice very often, it still feels familiar and most definitely reminds me of Mom.

Elinor – I like her but not enough to actually use it in front. She honors a cousin of his that even I knew as a kid. She died very young and I still miss her. It’d be morbid up front too, for me.

Frances – Was Mom’s name. She forbade me usage on a girl but She’s been gone so long (she died the same year the boys were born, but earlier in the year), I don’t think she’d begrudge me honoring in the middle, I hope.

Ruby – is a roundabout way of honoring me! It’s my birthstone. I love rubies too, more rare than diamonds, more precious too. Again, she’s unbalanced next to Josephine but works beautifully in the middle.

Esme/Esmée – Is the Barnaby of the girls list. We just like her. I prefer the streamlined Esme, he prefers the more obviously feminine Esmée. So I try out both variations to see where they’d fit best.

Violet – My lovely Aunt. Well, sort of. I always called her Aunt Violet, she always answered to it. And always wondered why the older cousins & mom called her Val. But long after her death I find out her name was actually Valeria or Valeriana. The latter is on her BC the former on her SS card. And Violet is on her death Certificate! I always remember her as Violet though, so Violet is what goes in the middle.

Kathleen – My younger sister. She’s a darling and I love her to pieces. She’s childless by choice and 39 so I doubt she’ll have any herself in the near future. I thin it’s one of the freshest forms of Kate around right now and love it because it’s her name.

Pandora – only shows up in the middle because it’s my “MIL’s” name. (I put mil in quotes because we’re not married and she’s not technically my mil, but we’ve been together so long it’s like she’s unofficially so). A lovely, unassuming woman. She stepped right in when my Mom died and took over for her. Made me feel safe again. Even though its usually “dead to be honored” around here, she means so much to me, I’d love to see her face when she realises it’s for her. We’re not telling her beforehand. I love it and would use it up front but the myth rather bugs me. So in the middle she goes. Where she’s safely honoring.

And those are mine. Any you like? Dislike? What names do you find only “fit” for middle use?

I’ve got names I adore but find a bit hard to use in one manner or another. I try anyway. Figured I’d toss them out for the heck of it today. Here, for your perusal:

The Guys:

Clarence/Clancy– I adore him and he’s actually in the top 10 despite my problem with him. He’s strong, handsome & angelic. I love his gentle feel. My problem? His combo. I’ve tenatively got Clarence Henry Rafael, which is lovely and while I can live with it, it doesn’t make Clarence shine. I want him to sparkle. Any suggestions?

Malcolm – He’s a long time love. I mean, Leo was nearly Malcolm, long time. I love his combo too Malcolm Barnaby Edward/Malcolm Edward Barnaby (haven’t decided which way I like it best yet). My problem? I need someone to tell me Malcolm MacK isn’t as clowny sounding as I think it is. He even sounds awesome with the sibset. *sigh* Talk me into him!Bruno– He’s a family surname of sorts (my Stepmom’s maiden name) and I really like his combo: Bruno Henry Valentin. I like him lots and think he sounds pretty great with the sibset. My probelm with him? The other half’s not too sure about him and others think he’s a dog. It shouldn’t bother me (doesn’t with Cosmo), but for some reason, that does.

Blaise– I love his brainy, artistic feel and think he goes most superbly with the sibset but I don’t even have him paired, everyone instinctively spells him Blaze, Ugh.

Perry– I adore his easy, breezy style and his lighthearted feel. I first think Perry White or Perry Mason but even Perry the platypus doesn’t bother me. I don’t have him paired either, the other half think it’s going to the girls. Anyone have an argument for Perry on a boy?

The Gals:

Romilly – Yes, she’s placename-y (doesn’t bother me, I have cousins in one of the Romillys), and Romy honors a Rosemary indirectly (that works in my huge family). Milly/Millie, she’s just sweet. I love her two combos: Romilly Alice Kathleen (honors more, Kathleen’s my sister, Alice was to have been my name) & Romilly Elinor Blythe (Blythe I just like here, very much). My problem? She’s quite odd with the sibset. *sigh*

Pandora– I so would love to use this as a first name, to heck with it to meshing with the sibs. It honors, and I love both her sound and her meaning ‘all gifts’. But “the box” teasing may be too much in middle school as a first so I have her in the middle: Cecily Pandora Jane. Tell me it’s alright, please. 🙂

Araminta– Another one I’ve loved for a good while. I love her frill, her feel and her femininity. She’s lovely but not weak. And Min/Minna & Mina as possible nicknames enchant me to no end. I love her combo: Araminta Alice Green. If anyone knows their “Freedom Train” (not the 1976 one, either) history, they’ll know where Green came from here. I need Min/Mina somewhere and this works best for me. And Green is so calm and clean, too. Not like the blues or pinks.

Esmeralda– The name of my G. Grandma’s oldest sister. Utterly lovely and breaks down to the tiny & divine Esme. My problem? She’s quite a bit clashy with the surname: Esmeralda MacK? I don’t think so.

Wilhelmina – I’ve loved her for at least 5 years. And I love her potential obvious nicknames: Willa & Mina. My problem? She’s impossible to pair. Anyone have any ideas?

Cecilia has been one of my favorite names since at least Kindergarten. It was my Babci’s name. I was nearly named for her which would have been weird as a kid, as my BFF is named Cecilia! So, move forward all these years later and I am still loving Cecilia. Seems like a perfect sister for Josephine, no? If I named another girl Cecilia, she’d get lost with the three cousins I have already named that. They go by Ceil, Celia & Cecilia. Funnily enough, those cousins are half cousins and their Grandmother was Catherine. My Babci was wife #2! So I started looking around for variants and rolled right into Cecily. Cecily’s perfect! She’s a bit frilly but no lacy little darling; Cecily’s got a core of steel. I like that the Cec- girls are also feminised boy names, in this case, from Cecil (which came from the Roman family name Caecilius, which was derived from Latin caecus” blind”. I don’t care about the meaning, my association is with Babci and St. Cecilia, patron Saint of Music!

We have finally decided on a combo: Cecily Pandora Jane. Cecily for My Babci, Pandora for his Mother, Jane for my Mom (her middle name). It wasn’t easy coming to that decision either, here’s what we ran through coming to CPJ, in just the last three months (I won’t bore you with anything before that!):

😀 So you can see, Cecily Pandora Jane was no easy feat. It’s taken me a long time to warm up to Pandora. I still am a tiny bit wary but I figure, in the middle she’s less likely to cause any damage in middle school. And if they give her too much grief, she can always say “It’s my NanaHoney’s name!” and that’s that.

Yep, she’s definitely on the list now. Granted she’s in #7 spot right now, but I have a feeling she’s going to be climbing higher before long. She’s very appealing! 😀

Mathilda’s pronounced the same as Matilda and feels quite a bit more regal to me (I know the precedent runs the other way) and does not make me think of kangaroos. I think I’d call her Tillie (for the family Tilley) or Maudie at least once in a while. Josephine goes by Josie, Poppy, Fifi, Effie and the full Josephine about equally. Mathilda, Tillie/Maudie works for me!

Now, I have to admit, Ottoline & Pomeline (rhymey though they may be) are the two that have been on my lsit the longest, close to three years now for both of them. Pomeline hasn’t always been in the top 10 but she’s never left them. Ottoline has drifted between #’s 1 & 2 for that whole time. I think she’s just awesome but am not sure how liveable she is, entirely. I’d’ve loved to have a distinctive name like that as a kid, myself. But how to guage the “need” for that before you see them? I’ve no idea.

Has the coolest site for not only some of the loveliest stationery I’ve seen in a good while, they allow you to personalise everything form birth announcements to business cards (and everyhting in between (Kids calling cards? Awesome!) I like to go there, pick out a buisness card and put my combos on it with the surname. (I must admit, that’s what really sold me on Ottoline Alice Marigold MacK. Stunning. Absolutely stunning written down. And so fun to write out too! )